The Incredible Potential for Rooftop Solar in Urban Areas

Image courtesy of Standard Solar.

Standard Solar, a solar energy company specializing in the development and financing of solar electric systems in the U.S., announced it has completed and has ongoing solar projects on more than 35 rooftops in densely populated urban areas.

These rooftop solar installations on 30+ Washington, DC schools, police and fire facilities and seven rooftops on educational buildings and schools in New York City, successfully demonstrate that solar can be installed in even the most challenging of environments.

Urban environments provide a vast number of empty rooftop spaces that can be utilized for solar, with the added advantage of inherently avoiding the potential land use and environmental concerns. According to a recent study by the Energy Department’s Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), America’s rooftops are full of untapped potential. In fact, up to 39 percent of America’s energy could be generated just by installing photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on urban rooftops.

“Once considered too expensive and too challenging to install, rooftop solar in urban environments has been an overlooked opportunity to both harness and deliver energy directly where it is being used. Our projects in New York’s Brooklyn, Jamaica, Queens, Flushing, Astoria, Staten Island, Bronx and in Washington, DC are great examples of how solar on rooftops in urban areas can be successful,” said Tony Clifford, Standard Solar’s Chief Development Officer.